U.S. patent application number 15/319034 was filed with the patent office on 2017-05-11 for equipment for sorting articles into bags.
The applicant listed for this patent is Solystic. Invention is credited to Luc Chirol, Emmanuel Miette.
Application Number | 20170128985 15/319034 |
Document ID | / |
Family ID | 53758439 |
Filed Date | 2017-05-11 |
United States Patent
Application |
20170128985 |
Kind Code |
A1 |
Chirol; Luc ; et
al. |
May 11, 2017 |
EQUIPMENT FOR SORTING ARTICLES INTO BAGS
Abstract
Sorting equipment for sorting articles (3), into receptacles (6)
that are open at their tops, comprises shuttle cart and trolley
assemblies (2) that can move independently so that each of them
moves an article from a loading point (4) to a receptacle, wherein
each shuttle cart and trolley assembly has a carrying deck (10) for
carrying an article, which deck is suitable for overlying the
opening in the top of a receptacle, and retaining means (16) above
the openings in the receptacles, which leave a space (18) for
allowing a carrying deck to pass between the retaining means and
the opening in a receptacle, and retain the article loaded on the
carrying deck above the opening in the receptacle when the shuttle
cart and trolley assembly moves away from the receptacle in such a
manner that the article falls by gravity into the receptacle.
Inventors: |
Chirol; Luc; (Paris, FR)
; Miette; Emmanuel; (Saint Gratien, FR) |
|
Applicant: |
Name |
City |
State |
Country |
Type |
Solystic |
Bagneux |
|
FR |
|
|
Family ID: |
53758439 |
Appl. No.: |
15/319034 |
Filed: |
May 19, 2016 |
PCT Filed: |
May 19, 2016 |
PCT NO: |
PCT/FR2016/051179 |
371 Date: |
December 15, 2016 |
Current U.S.
Class: |
1/1 |
Current CPC
Class: |
B07C 3/14 20130101; B07C
3/18 20130101; B65G 1/08 20130101; B65G 1/026 20130101; B07C 3/02
20130101 |
International
Class: |
B07C 3/02 20060101
B07C003/02; B07C 3/14 20060101 B07C003/14; B07C 3/18 20060101
B07C003/18 |
Foreign Application Data
Date |
Code |
Application Number |
Jun 4, 2015 |
FR |
1555086 |
Claims
1. A sorting equipment for sorting articles, into receptacles that
are open at their tops, comprising: shuttle cart and trolley
assemblies that are configured to move independently of other
shuttle cart and trolley assemblies so that each shuttle cart and
trolley assembly conveys an article from a loading point to a
receptacle, wherein each of the shuttle cart and trolley assemblies
has a carrying deck for carrying an article, which deck is
configured to overlie an opening in the top of the receptacle, and
retaining means positioned above the openings in the receptacles,
each retaining means having a space for allowing a carrying deck to
pass between the retaining means and the opening in a receptacle,
and retain the article loaded on the carrying deck above the
opening in the receptacle when the shuttle cart and trolley
assembly moves away from the receptacle in such a manner that the
article falls by gravity into the receptacle.
2. The sorting equipment according to claim 1, wherein in that the
receptacles are lined up in a row and each shuttle cart and trolley
assembly is controlled to move along the row of receptacles in such
a manner that the carrying deck of the shuttle cart and trolley
assembly overlies the receptacles in succession.
3. The sorting equipment according to claim 2, wherein the
receptacles are bags suspended from frames and each of the shuttle
cart and trolley assemblies is in the shape of a U on its side,
with a lower branch of the U-shape that is adapted to go under the
suspended bags, and an upper branch of the U-shape that is adapted
to overlie the openings in the bags.
4. The sorting equipment according to claim 3, wherein the
retaining means is a paddle suspended above the bags.
5. The sorting equipment according to claim 4, wherein the articles
are postal articles.
6. The sorting equipment according to claim 1, wherein the
receptacles are bags suspended from frames and each of the shuttle
cart and trolley assemblies is in the shape of a U on its side,
with a lower branch of the U-shape that is adapted to go under the
suspended bags, and an upper branch of the U-shape that is adapted
to overlie the openings in the bags.
7. The sorting equipment according to claim 1, wherein the
retaining means is a paddle suspended above the bags.
8. The sorting equipment according to claim 1, wherein the articles
are postal articles.
Description
TECHNICAL FIELD
[0001] The invention relates to the field of sorting articles, and
more particularly to postal sorting equipment for sorting postal
articles, such as parcels, into receptacles, such as bags, that are
open at their tops.
PRIOR ART
[0002] Currently, sorting postal parcels at low throughput rates is
not automated very much in sorting centers.
[0003] Such "low" throughput rates are rates that can be up to
three thousand parcels per hour.
[0004] This type of sorting is generally performed manually by
specialist operators who take the parcels one-by-one from a take
point, who visually recognize a destination on a parcel that has
been taken, and then, as a function of a certain sorting plan,
determine the sorting bag into which the parcels should be put.
[0005] The sorting bags can then be recovered for delivery on a
delivery round or "postman's walk" or be emptied for sorting the
parcels in a new sorting pass.
[0006] Thus, the sorting rate at which parcels are sorted in such
sorting centers depends essentially on the number of operators at
work there and on their skill at sorting the parcels into the bags
as a function of the sorting plan.
[0007] It can also be understood that the sorting plans changing at
every sorting pass requires a substantial effort of concentration
on the part of the operators, and that can give rise to sorting
errors.
[0008] It should also be noted that sorting machines exist that are
fully automated, that can be referred to as "shoe line sorters",
and that are used for sorting certain postal articles.
[0009] However, those machines are ill-suited for postal sorting at
low throughput rates due to their costs being too high and to the
floor area or "footprint" they occupy being too large.
[0010] Sorting equipment also exists for sorting articles into
receptacles that are open at their tops as described in Document WO
2014/057182. That equipment comprises self-propelled shuttle cart
and trolley assemblies that move independently, each conveying an
article from a loading point to a receptacle, each of the shuttle
cart and trolley assemblies having a carrying deck or rack for
carrying an article, which deck is suitable for overlying the
opening in the top of a receptacle.
SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION
[0011] An object of the invention is thus to provide a solution for
limiting intervention by operators in parcel postal sorting, while
also guaranteeing the parcels are sorted at a good sorting
rate.
[0012] An object is also to propose an automated solution that is
reliable and cost-effective for handling parcels at low throughput
rates, and that is adapted for dynamically managing several sorting
passes.
[0013] The basic idea of the invention is to move the parcels or
other postal articles on shuttle cart and trolley assemblies to the
bags from a loading point at which the parcels are loaded, the bags
and the shuttle cart and trolley assemblies being adapted so that
unloading a parcel from a trolley into a bag takes place merely by
gravity.
[0014] To this end, the invention provides equipment for sorting
articles, for sorting the articles into receptacles that are open
at their tops, said equipment being characterized in that it
comprises shuttle cart and trolley assemblies that are suitable for
being moved independently so that each of them conveys an article
from a loading point to a receptacle, in that each of the shuttle
cart and trolley assemblies has a carrying deck for carrying an
article, which deck is suitable for overlying the opening in the
top of a receptacle, and in that retaining means are provided above
the openings in the receptacles, which retaining means leave a
space for allowing a carrying deck to pass between the retaining
means and the opening in a receptacle, and retain the article
loaded on the carrying deck above the opening in the receptacle
when the shuttle cart and trolley assembly moves away from the
receptacle in such a manner that the article falls by gravity into
the receptacle.
[0015] The sorting apparatus of the invention may advantageously
have the following features: [0016] the receptacles are lined up in
a row and each shuttle cart and trolley assembly is controlled to
move along the row of receptacles in such a manner that the
carrying deck of the shuttle cart and trolley assembly overlies the
receptacles in succession; [0017] the receptacles are bags
suspended from frames and each of the shuttle cart and trolley
assemblies is in the shape of a U on its side, with a lower branch
of the U-shape that is adapted to go under the suspended bags, and
an upper branch of the U-shape that is adapted to overlie the
openings in the bags; and [0018] the retaining means are
constituted by a stationary paddle suspended above the bags.
BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS
[0019] The present invention can be better understood and other
advantages appear on reading the following detailed description of
an embodiment given by way of non-limiting example and with
reference to the accompanying drawing, in which:
[0020] FIG. 1 is a diagrammatic view of sorting equipment of the
invention seen in profile; and
[0021] FIG. 2 is a diagrammatic view of sorting equipment of the
invention seen from above.
DESCRIPTION OF EMBODIMENTS
[0022] The sorting equipment of the invention is designed to sort
articles, and more particularly non-machine-sortable postal
articles of the parcel type, at a low throughput rate.
[0023] With reference to FIGS. 1 and 2, the sorting equipment 1 of
the invention comprises shuttle cart and trolley assemblies 1, each
of which is made up of a trolley 2A for carrying a parcel 3 and of
a shuttle cart 2B for moving the parcel 3 placed on the trolley
2A.
[0024] The trolley 2A and the shuttle cart 2B may optionally be
designed to be coupled to each other in detachable manner.
[0025] Each shuttle cart 2B is an independent self-propelled
shuttle cart capable of moving from a loading point 4 at which the
parcels 3 are loaded and which is shown in FIG. 2 to unloading
points 5 at which the parcels are unloaded and at which receptacles
6 are placed, each of which receptacles has an opening in its top,
the receptacles being suspended bags in this example.
[0026] The receptacles may also be trays, boxes such as box
pallets, or like containers.
[0027] As can be seen in FIG. 1, each trolley 2A is in the shape of
a U on its side, with a lower branch 7 above the wheels 8 of the
motor-driven shuttle cart 2B and an upper branch 9 on which a
horizontal carrying deck 10 is fastened.
[0028] As shown in FIG. 1, the deck 10 on the branch 9 of the
U-shape is suitable for coming to overly the opening in the top of
the bag 6 when the lower branch 7 of the U-shape is under the bag
6.
[0029] In FIG. 2, the openings 11 in the tops of the bags 6 can be
seen, the bags being lined up in one or more longitudinal rows. In
FIG. 2, only one row of bags is shown.
[0030] The bags 6 in the row thus constitute the sorting outlets
for a postal sorting process performed on the parcels following a
certain sorting plan and in one or more sorting passes.
[0031] It is possible to have receptacles 6 of different sizes
adapted to different rates of filling with parcels depending on the
sorting outlets.
[0032] FIG. 2 very diagrammatically shows a monitoring and control
system 13 for monitoring and controlling the shuttle cart and
trolley assemblies 1, which system includes, in this example, an
automatic address recognition system 14 having a camera 15 that is
mounted at some height so that it can observe the top face of each
parcel 6 placed on the carrying deck 10 of a shuttle cart and
trolley assembly 1 passing under the camera.
[0033] It should be understood that the shuttle cart and trolley
assemblies 1 are remote controlled in wireless manner by
geolocation from the system 13.
[0034] The automatic address recognition system 14 may be a
conventional system using Optical Character Recognition (OCR)
adapted to recognize a destination address on the parcel on the
basis of a digital image of the parcel taken by the camera 15 and
containing said destination address.
[0035] It should be understood that the system 14 may also be a bar
code reader suitable for reading bar codes on the parcels.
[0036] As can be seen in FIG. 2, the shuttle cart and trolley
assemblies 1 are controlled by the system 13 so that they follow a
path made up of the segments D1, D2, D3, D4, and D5.
[0037] The segment D1 goes from the loading point 4 at which a
parcel is loaded onto the deck of a shuttle cart and trolley
assembly arriving, for example, from a storage zone (not
shown).
[0038] In this example, the segment D1 ends at the place at which
the address recognition system 14 is situated.
[0039] The segment D2 extends the segment D1 and forms a 90.degree.
angle therewith to reach one end of a row of bags or other
receptacles.
[0040] At the end of the segment D2, the shuttle cart and trolley
assembly 1 is aligned with the bags 6 and the shuttle cart 2A of
the shuttle cart and trolley assembly can thus travel along the
edge of this row of bags by following the longitudinal path D3.
[0041] The parcel 3 is then moved above the successive openings 11
in the bags.
[0042] As shown in FIG. 1, retaining means 16 are provided over the
top of each opening 11 in a receptacle, which retaining means leave
space for allowing a carrying deck to pass through between the
retaining means and the opening in the receptacle, and retain the
article 3 loaded on the carrying deck above the opening in the
receptacle while the shuttle cart and trolley assembly 1 moves away
from the receptacle, in this example by following the segment D4
that is perpendicular to the segment D3.
[0043] Moving the carrying deck 10 of the shuttle cart and trolley
assembly 1 away from the bag 6 along the segment D4 causes the
parcel 3 to fall by gravity into the bag 6 shown in FIG. 2.
[0044] The retaining means 16 may be in the form of a paddle formed
by a dropped edge of the suspension frame 17 from which the bag 6
is suspended, which paddle leaves a through slot between it and the
edge of the opening in the bag.
[0045] It is also possible to have, as retaining means, a large
paddle that extends over the entire length of the row of bags
6.
[0046] The segment D4 is extended by a last segment D5 that forms a
right angle with it and that returns to the loading point 4.
[0047] It can thus be understood that a deck 10 of a shuttle cart
and trolley assembly is suitable, with a parcel 3 on it, for
overlying the bags 6 in succession, and, when it arrives above a
bag corresponding to a respective sorting outlet 5, the shuttle
cart and trolley assembly is reversed along the segment D4 and the
parcel 3 as retained by the paddle 16 comes to fall, merely by
gravity, into the bag 6 constituting the sorting outlet.
[0048] With this arrangement, it is possible for there to be only
one operator, who loads parcels onto the shuttle cart and trolley
assemblies 1 arriving one-by-one at the loading point 4, with the
sorting then taking place automatically under the control of the
system 13.
[0049] Also, in accordance with the invention, it is possible to
have a plurality of loading points 4 for loading parcels 3 onto the
shuttle cart and trolley assemblies 1.
[0050] If the sorting includes a plurality of sorting passes, the
bags 6 can be removed from the suspension frames 17 by the operator
and replaced with empty bags, the full bags being put into sequence
at point 4 for a new parcel sorting pass.
* * * * *